BY TOM SEIPP, MANAGING EDITOR.
Play-by-play commentator Tommy Valentine put it best on the ESPN+ broadcast today: we were watching the Jaren Holmes show in St. Bonaventure’s 83-57 win against St. Joseph’s.
“It’s an amazing night to experience that in [The Reilly Center] where so many St. Bonaventure players have gone for spectacular nights, it’s just amazing to be up there with those guys,” Holmes said after his best career game. “My guys kept giving me the ball in the right spots. My job here at St. Bonaventure is to hit shots, and I think I did that today.”
Holmes finished with a career-best 38 points thanks to shooting 8-for-12 from three-point range. He also secured 10 rebounds, which gave Holmes his second career double-double.
“He deserves it. He works his tail off… He does everything right, academically, socially, he deserves moments like this,” head coach Mark Schmidt said. “I’m proud of him, and I know his teammates are, of having a night like this.”
“Seeing one of your teammates go off and hit shot after shot, putting up nearly 40 points at the A-10 level, not too many people do that and it’s something you have to celebrate,” Jalen Adaway said of Holmes.
It wasn’t all Holmes for the Bonnies Wednesday, as Adaway also had a career-high 24 points on 11-for-12 shooting.
St. Bonaventure struggled in the first half, shooting 3-for-14 from three. But the Bonnies were able to attack the zone with success in the second half, as they shot 7-for-9 from three-point range in their conference win.
“To beat a zone you have to beat it inside out, when I get in the middle of it, I’m pretty comfortable in it… Whenever I get in the middle I feel like it’s my own little world,” Adaway said on playing against the zone.
While Adaway dominated the inside game, Holmes benefited from the outside.
“We got the ball in the middle, I stood out on the wing trying to find holes in the zone,” Holmes said. “They had holes in their zone, so we were trying to exploit them. I was in those spots ready to fire it.”
The Bonnies two big-names, Kyle Lofton and Osun Osunniyi struggled scoring the ball respectively, but were still big for the Bonnies.
Lofton, who shot 0-for-7 from the field, almost finished with a double-double with eight rebounds and 11 assists. Osunniyi finished with seven points and 12 rebounds, but was big defensively for the Bonnies.
“I thought we played a terrific game both defensively and offensively.” Schmidt said. “We won this game because we held them to 57 points, and everyone had something to do with that.”
“Ultimately, we played great tonight. We played better as a team, we’re getting more comradery. I love the steps we’re taking,” Holmes said on his team. “This is just a great win for us and a great stepping stone to keep moving up in the A-10 and keeping the momentum going.”
St. Bonaventure will host George Washington at noon on Saturday; it will be televised on NBCSN.
